New Year, New-er Regents

By Kalia Tan

June 20, 2025

This year, the new Algebra 2, Geometry, Biology, and Earth and Space Science Regents exams will be implemented in accordance with the Next Generation Learning Standards (NGLS).

Jericho Middle School offers accelerated courses in math and science for middle school students who are up for learning above their skill level. The classes are typically one grade level higher than that of the student, and as a result of this, students in accelerated courses will take the Algebra and Earth & Space Sciences Regents in eighth grade. 

   In previous years, the Regents followed the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), launched in 2009 and fully implemented in 2011. The intention behind it was to adequately prepare students for higher education and later life, establishing expectations of high quality work along with it. However, after its integration into the curriculum, the state received complaints from educators  and guardians about its difficulty and vague wording. As a result, the NGLS were released in September 2017, and this year, the new Geometry, Algebra 2, Biology, and Earth & Space Sciences Regents will be given out for New York State students to take. This includes the Jericho Middle School eighth grade accelerated students. 

   The NGLS focuses more on science than the CCSS, which only covered English Language Arts (ELA) and math. It aims to teach students sequentially, building on topics learned in previous years and using hands-on learning methods to help students learn. 

   The Earth Science Regents will have fewer questions, decreasing from 85 to 50, and there will be an increase in short response questions, with the general focus being more on application than memorization. There has also been a change in curriculum meaning students will be using a new Earth Science Reference Table (ESRT). Cluster questions will be the primary focus, typically featuring multiple diagrams, a reading, and a couple of questions to go along with them, some of which may also require the use of the new ESRT. All in all, for the NGLS Earth Science Regents, focusing more on learning how to read graphs and pictures as well as familiarizing oneself with the reference table may be of more interest than memorizing as many details as possible, though more general concepts should still be known.

On the other hand, the math Regents have not changed much, and will be following in the footsteps of the Algebra 1 Regents, which was changed to adhere to the NGLS in the 2023-2024 school year.  The addition of Desmos had made it much easier and more efficient than before. Mrs. Catalano, an Algebra 1 teacher, said: “It’s not just here, do this problem, it’s play with this, what happens, do this, what happens, and it’s more of a discovery-based environment.”

   Desmos Graphing Calculator was added to the list of tools students can use on the Regents, replacing the clunkier TI-84 graphing calculator. Desmos Test Mode locks school-issued devices in the calculator screen, preventing cheating through the use of search engines such as Google. 

   The other change made was in the curriculum, removing residual plots from linear regression, factoring by grouping from factoring, and completing the square when a ≠ 1 (ax2 + bx + c = 0). Those units have been moved to Algebra 2. “The older Regents had some higher level concepts that weren’t necessary to talk about in an introductory course like Algebra 1, so the fact that they removed them and put them in Algebra 2 was a really smart idea, but other than that there really wasn’t a whole lot of change,” explained Mrs. Catalano.

   The best way to study for Regents is to simulate the experience by taking previous Regents—for example, using the June 2024 Algebra Regents to do a mock for Algebra, with a three hour limit, in a quiet location. This way, old concepts are revisited and re-learned to be of use during the test. Patterns may also arise as more problems are solved, and students can see what types of questions will appear and what questions they may frequently answer incorrectly.